Leather Naturally emerges from APLF with “new momentum”
16/03/2018
At a discussion on March 15, Egbert Dikkers, leader of innovation and sustainability at Smit & zoon and chair of the initiative’s steering committee, said membership of Leather Naturally had increased from 30 to 40 companies and organisations in the weeks leading up to APLF.
During the discussion, leatherbiz columnist David Peters said the leather industry should make it clear that the world does not have the space or the means to dispose of the one million hides per day that the meat industry generates as a by-product and that converting that material into shoes, clothes, bags, car interiors and other products is a valuable service to humanity and the planet. “There is nothing else we can do with that material,” he said.
Later, Eric Poles, sales director of Silvateam, said that appealing to contemporary consumers’ desire to buy healthy products and materials could play into leather’s hands. He said his company has been involved in a study currently being carried out by researchers at two Italian universities into the health benefits that leather can offer by virtue of being a naturally antimicrobial material.
At the end of the event, the chief executive of Pittards, Reg Hankey, said he believed Leather Naturally is still “taking baby steps”, but that it has “come a long way” because the people involved have put in a lot of hard work.
Share this story:
